'Going forward
may not be the answer - maybe I should go back' is the philosophy that
governs the spanking new Bentley Continental GT V8 as it not only loses
four cylinders from the previous W12 engine, but also resurrects the
famed red badge of courage to make this GT superiorly awesome
The Middle East is more than just a huge patch of desert land. Delve
deep into the sand and you will unearth some of the best driving roads
on the planet much to the delight of the lucky class of men and women
who have the bank balance to summon some really high-end and fast
machinery into their garage. Opulence is the key word and the vast
expanse of the sandy monotone freckled with oases of sparkling modern
cities provides the perfect backdrop for cars like these – the Bentley Continental GT. This marvel of engineering now under the guidance of the mighty German Volkswagen Group truly upholds the British bastion of lavish luxury and driving excellence.
Ever since its conception, the Continental GT has been a statement of
everything good that money can buy – the classic Bentley shape
interpreted into modern curves, plush interiors teeming with gadgets and
technology and of course that massive 6-litre W12 under the hood. But
this one is different and it’s the dawn of a whole new direction for the
Continental because it has just gone lean and despite its shedding of
four cylinders from its previous powerplant, it is in fact better in
almost every way!
That big W12 makes way for a twin-turbo 4-litre V8 engine that makes
500 horses at full tap and that’s not bad at all because it amounts to
just about 67 units down on the bigger engined GT. But before you go
forming opinions about how the GT V8 is down on power now and the sorts,
understand that four extra cylinders in two extra banks also amounts to
a lot of weight and that weight is concentrated up in the front meaning
that it is loading up the front wheels – hence the Continental GT W12’s
somewhat whale-ish handling. With that weight now shed from the front
it now gives the Continental near-perfect 51:49 weight distribution
front to rear and coupled with reworked spring rates, bushings, tuning
and customized programming for the air-suspension system, it has given
the big GT a huge improvement in its handling characteristics.
It is now sharper, more agile and a whole lot more predictable than
the W12 model but despite all that it is still a heavy machine so don’t
expect it to perform like some of the supercars out there. It’s not all
just about the missing four cylinders though – there’s enough technology
packed in the Bentley’s engine bay to put a space shuttle to shame
including high-pressure direct injection, low-friction bearings and
energy recuperation. The sophisticated engine management system is
courtesy the massive 6.75-litre V8 Mulsanne that runs the engine on half
its cylinders under lighter loads and when cruising. In fact it even
recalibrates the hydraulic mounts to better handle the different
vibration frequencies in four-cylinder mode! Thermal brilliance comes in
the form of an intelligent rapid warm-up valve that keeps the coolant
within the confines of the engine until optimal operating temperature is
reached before starting to circulate the fluid normally.
While that may sound like techno-wizardry and PR gimmicks it actually
does a great part in massively improving the operating efficiency of
the engine which means every molecule of fuel entering each of the
combustion chambers burns cleaner resulting in improved CO2 emissions
and making the GT V8 go further than the W12 per unit of fuel consumed.
The British manufacturer claims a 40 percent improvement in fuel
efficiency and emissions over the W12 model thus increasing the range on
the Continental GT V8 by over 300km of guilt-free motoring.
All that is helped by a ZF-sourced gearbox specially tuned and
equipped with eight cogs as opposed to the W12 model’s six-speed ageing
unit. It’s a win-win situation here because not only does the quick
change gearbox improve fuel efficiency, it also helps keep the GT V8 up
and sprightly, letting you drive in the meat of the torque curve at all
times. Its block downshift electronics further lets you shift upto four
ratios down at once making it even more responsive.
Add that up with the sharper handling gifted by the lighter front
end, the all-wheel drive system with a Torsen differential and 40:60
rear-biased power split and you know that the V8 is as much fun around a
race track as it is comfortable around town and fast on the open
highway. With the 500 horses peaking at 6000 rpm and the peak torque of
660Nm staying at the summit between 1700 and 5000 rpm, the Continental
GT V8 makes the 100km/h mark in 4.6 seconds which is just 0.2 seconds
off on the massive W12.
Considering the inherent advantages in range increase and cleaner
emissions, it seems Bentley’s got a winner on their hands with the GT
V8. This isn’t the Bentley you buy when you can’t af Ford the
bigger W12 – this is the one you buy when you know you want a better
Continental than they’ve been selling all these years and that’s saying a
lot because the W12 has been one of the best cars that money can buy.
The Bentley Continental GT V8 isn’t one for the posers though because
when you opt for the smaller engine, the world will know. Back in the
1920s when WO Bentley was making some of the fastest cars on the planet
he had a very simple method of distinguishing his 4.5 and 6-litre models
from the smaller 3-litre ones. While the higher capacity machines
adorned the Bentley logo with the ‘B’ encircled in black enamel, the
smaller ones used a red backdrop. The same philosophy has been
resurrected with the Continental GT V8 and this one sports the red badge
not only on the hood and the boot, but also on the hub caps as well.
That’s a little piece of history right there that the GT V8 brings
with it and along with that comes the slightly reworked air dam on the
front, black valance at the rear, cloth headliner and pillar trim, Dark
Fiddleback Eucalyptus wood, a single front arm rest and a shorter centre
console for the rear bench. But the most distinguishing factor apart
from the subtly different front grille is the set of figure-of-eight
chromed exhaust tail pipes – so if no one recognises the V8 creeping up
from behind, they’ll definitely known when you blow past, especially
because of that distinct snarl courtesy reworked intake and exhaust
manifolds! Of course all this will come at a price that is most likely
to be something around 10 percent lower than what you’d shell out for
the W12 which makes the GT V8 an over-one-and-half crore rupee machine.
Everything’s customisable though and you could have the boys from
Crewe in the UK get your V8 painted and trimmed-up to mimic a W12
including the fabulous 21-inch six-spoke tuning fork wheels, but the one
thing that Bentley will not do is replace the red badge with the black
one – it’s sort of a safety switch to keep the identity and therefore
pride of ownership of the bigger W12 intact as both models continue
selling side-by-side.That just makes the Bentley Continental GT V8 a
worthy younger sibling to have selling in showrooms for the sort of
buyer who isn’t just passionate about his cars, but about calculations
as well. And for those who believe in cubic capacity above everything
else, there’s always the W12.
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